Hi Reddit! I am New York defense attorney Jeffrey Lichtman, the lawyer for alleged Mexican drug lord Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman. Through my career, I have represented a number of other high-profile clients including John Gotti Jr. and rappers The Game and Fat Joe.

Thank you all for spending two hours with me and asking such intelligent questions. If you have any more interest about what I do for a living, I have a pretty informative website as linked above which will give you an idea about the types of cases I have and my results -- and thoughts as contained in my blog.

Q:

How would you show someone that life is precious and worth living? Specifically someone going through tough times and negativity in their life.

I once worked man who wanted to take his life because of his terminal lung cancer. Right before he died he said I am happier now than I have ever been. He told me his joy didn't come from things or the activities of life but from his attention. He said, "now my pleasure comes from the softness of the sheets in the coolness of the breeze." Bringing our attention to the details of life we often discover a gratitude for simply being alive.

Q:

That was an interesting moment. I don't know the guy that wrote that article and it was a pretty aggressive article. We were in the studio when we read it and were like 'what do we do?' We just decided to poke fun at ourselves and did a mashup with Paris. Horrible mashup but we're self-deprecating and Nickelback rocks

Great question. I think people who have been willing to live into the deeper dimensions of what it means to be human have an easier time with dying. For some that ease comes through religious or spiritual practices or training. I don't think those things are necessary for people to have a peaceful death. I worked with a man who was an atheist. He described what he thought would happen after he died. He said that his body was basically energy and that he would become molecules and mix with all the other molecules in the universe. He was quite comfortable with his dying. Idealized notions of a “good death” or a “dignified death” are troubling to me. They can blind us to what is actually happening, causing us to override the unpleasant and trample the sacred. Arbitrary standards about things “going according to plan” exert enormous pressure on dying people, adding guilt, shame, embarrassment, and a sense of failure to an already challenging process. Dignity is not an objective value. It is a subjective experience. Care with dignity promotes self-respect, honors individual differences, and supports people in the freedom to live their lives and their deaths according to their personal wishes. When we interfere, we may miss out on or even interrupt the subtle dimensions of the dying experience. No matter how noble our intentions, we need to resist the temptation to act on our own biases or impose our well-meaning advice or spiritual beliefs on people who are dying. Hannah was a Christian scientist with a deep and unwavering faith in God. At ninety-three, she had arrived at a place of acceptance of her death. She told me that her image of death was “to rest in the hands of Jesus.” Hannah’s well-meaning granddaughter, Skye, came to visit. Skye shared that she had been reading a number of books on near-death experiences. According to these books, at the time of death, people are often greeted by their deceased relatives. Skye said, “Grandma, you don’t have to worry, because when you die, everyone you know who died before you will be there to meet you.” When she heard this, Hannah became terrified of dying. The secret she had never shared with her family was that her husband, Edgar, had physically abused her for a good portion of their married life. He had died five years before. The idea of meeting Edgar again “on the other side” and spending eternity with him filled Hannah with desperation.

Our support of someone who is dying needs to include mindfulness, warmth, authenticity, stability, and generous listening. This allows us to enter the question of dying without so many answers. Being with dying calls for humility, acceptance, and a willingness to let go of control.

Hi guys! I went to your show in Des Moines and I loved it. There was a guy next to me with his young sons. He told me (before you came on) that he liked you guys because your lyrics were clean and you guys weren't crass and he felt comfortable letting his sons listen to your music...and then you came out and said "WHAT THE FUCK IS UP DES MOINES!!??" and his face just kinda fell. It was hilarious.

My question is kind of related. Do you have any stories/instances about parents getting mad at you that you're not as squeaky clean in your shows as the radio edits to your songs?

Not sure we are celebrating death. However, we can use the fact of death to help us understand life and perhaps live a bit more fully. Death reminds us that everything comes and goes: every thought, every lovemaking, every life. We see that dying is in the life of everything. Resisting this truth leads to pain. When we live a life illuminated by the fact of your death, it informs our choices.... right in the middle of life. Each moment is born and dies. And in a very real way, we are born and die with it. There is a beauty to all this impermanence. In Japan, people celebrate the brief but abundant blooming of the cherry blossoms each spring. In Idaho, outside the cabin where I teach, blue flax flowers live for a single day. Why do such flowers appear so much more magnificent than plastic ones? The fragility, the brevity, and the uncertainty of their lives captivates us, invites us into beauty, wonder, and gratitude.

Q:

Initially it was Feeling This. It's my favorite blink 182 song because of the harmonies at the end.

sorry for bombardment of questions and i know you will answer this as a glass half full defense attorney but do you really think he stands a chance? isn't the evidence from the prosecution quite heavy?

so.... assuming he walks a free man would he still be a wanted man in mexico?

Q:

I was hacked. I don't even use Twitter that much. We were at a dinner at Sexy Fish in London with our agent and I got a notification or a text and noticed people were freaking out and then I saw a screenshot. I didn't know if I got hacked or if someone used a fake tweet generator but then I realized what had happened. My manager took my phone and deleted everything and got twitter to freeze my account. What sucked about it is that idk if they genuinely believed that I said all of that or if people just wanted to be nasty to someone but it fucked me up for a while. The comments didn't stop for months. Lady Gaga saw the tweet and she wasn't mad at us cuz she knew that we had been hacked but the things the hacker posted were still hurtful. It sucks that my account was involved in making someone feel that way. I get angry sometimes but I definitely don't go on the internet when I do - DREW

oh. will you be representing him for each? or is that up to him ultimately to decide?

Q:

How we've developed over the past 5 years - we started being really enthusiastic about dance music and really wanted to be involved in it. At the time Avicii, Swedish House Mafia, etc all had their own unique sound. A lot of producers start off by making music that sounds like other people's sounds and that's how we started. We worked every day to try to find a sound that was inherently ours and not anybody's elses. That's where our remixes came from. The first time we really found our sound was with a remix we did of Anna the North's "Sway". That one did really well. After that we were really burnt out on making 128 music and we slowed it down and that's when we made "Roses" and I think that paved the way for Artist's to make slower music.

At the time Kygo, Diplo, Major Lazer, and we were the only ones really doing the slower songs I think. Flume's always been amazing. The music we now make is typically heard on the radio but at the time it wasn't.

Going forward we're going to take some chances and hopefully can steer away from sounding like generic pop to you guys.

What does a defense attorney do when a client confesses guilt to the charges against him/her?

Q:

Hey! We grew up listening to Coldplay. They've been great at writing great songs and never thought working with Coldplay would even be a possibility. Their manager told Adam, our manager, that the band listens to our songs before they go on stage. We reached out and one day we heard back that Chris was available and we of course dropped everything and went to hang out at his studio. He's such a cool guy. We ended up playing a couple chords not knowing if he'd like them and he was like "this is the song" and we plugged in a mic and he started dancing around the studio and mumbled out the song. It was a rad moment to watch his process in the studio. Chris is like a spiritual being sent down from the Heavens to bring people good music.

I think they're both incredible producers. Both awesome chicks. Rezz just does her own thing and has fun and the stuff she makes is super creative and out there. Alison Wonderland and Rezz are two of the most exciting dance artists. They both have a sound that's specific to each of them.

So what if he's being cross-examined and lies and you know it's a lie? Are you required to inform the court of his perjury?

Q:

Fame has changed us personally but not in the way you'd think. It's a weird thing to deal with. When you have people talking about the things you do, what you wear, what you say, etc you lose control of how you present your life. Everyone has something to say about one side of you and it may be right or it may not be right but it's out of your control. Our families have to deal with it. We learn to deal with it and we're lucky to have each other and we have a really dope team that help.

So is that a yes or a no? Are you required to inform the court if you know your client is committing perjury?

Q:

Matoma is one of our best buddies. They should publish a book on him. He's a fascinating man. He came on tour with us as our opener and we became great friends and he happens to be a nationally ranked swimmer in Norway. He was also a snipper in the army and got pneumonia and he decided he wanted to become a musician. He was a classically trained pianist before that. So he's a pretty interesting guy. We worked on a song together while on the Friendzone tour but I dont think we'll be putting it out.

We've actually been talking to blink 182 about doing a song which would be rad since they've been big influences on our lives since we were little. Travis Barker played with us at the AMA's last year which was dope. As far as doing any remixes - we're currently more focused on producing original music. We could do a remix but I feel like you have to be able to add something to the song when you do a remix.

We answered this on a reddit post a couple weeks ago. To name a few: Boombox Cartel Louis the Child K?d illenium Lido (he's well known but doesn't get enough credit) We got known on hypemachine and back then the biggest producers on there were us, kygo, and RAC and now there's such good music coming from so many kids and it's awesome to see.

I would like to do another album. I really respect artists like Kendrick Lamar and Halsey that have a good overarching concept for an album. Maybe we'll do EPs again or singles. We just want to be able to put out music consistently. We haven't put anything out in like 6 months now which feels weird. We want our music to be a present reflection of who we are.

The series shows a lot of brutality commited by, or in name of El Chapo, also the corruption of government and other drug dealers.

One more question, what can you tell about this case?

Q:

I think some of the criticism is fair and some of it is not fair. We look to criticism to improve ourselves. It's hard to read the more negative comments. I really liked the New York Times Review which wasn't a necessarily positive review but there were a lot of things I agreed with which is sometimes the hardest review to read where you're like "yeah I could've done that better".

A lot of the criticism sits with you and you have to figure out how to deal with it in your own way. We thought our album was honest and says a lot about who we are and we got to play it for 10,000 people every night on tour. Seeing those people jumping up and down is what made it worth it.

Tyler from 21 pilots sent us a really nice email congratulating us on the new album and said you should really focus on what's right in front of you and the internet isn't real. (ignore the fact that we're doing an AMA on the internet right now lol)

We used to stack the productions with a million sounds. A lot of producers have asked us about simplicity. "Oh your songs are so simple" is a comment we get a lot. Simplicity is something we've worked on for SO long. Go listen to "Teenage Dream" by Katy Perry. It's an interesting production because every sound in that production has a purpose. It starts very narrow and as different sections of the song come in they add one really quality sound in the right key. Once you get to the hook it's everything and it gets bigger and we studied guys like Max Martin and Dr Luke to try to nail down that idea.

Sound quality is a funny thing... some of the people that have the greatest mixes think their stuff sounds like shit. It's self-deprecating in that way. If you listen to our earlier mixes some of it sounds like we had no idea what we were doing. You eventually find your way. I think it's really important to put your music on Soundcloud or wherever before it's ready because you get so much feedback and can really grow

Hmm. Great question. When I walked outside to face the press after Gotti's verdict -- and after no one believing that I could win but me for over a year -- I had just finished crying inside the courthouse. I knew then that there was nothing I couldn't do in the courtroom. Knowing that I could call my father afterward and make HIM proud was an incredible moment for me.

Q:

What's your favorite lyric you've ever written for a song?

When are we going to hear Sick Boy?

Who's the person or artist who has inspired you the most in your lives?

About the El Chapo case: what kinds of things are you allowed to say to the media/public regarding the case and what do you need to keep secret? How do you decided/strategize what you can say and when?

Q:

Lol he's here with me right now. Yeah Lucas gets hazed from time to time lol but he's got a good life.

I don't discuss trial strategy with the media unless I want the strategy to be released, obviously. I can discuss the case in general but there are various security measures put into place by the government and ordered by the judge that would prevent me from stating all that much.

As for my ultimate strategy, a lot depends on the evidence in the case. Not sure what I need to do -- until I see all that the government has.

Q:

What does your studio setup look like from a software/synth/midi controller standpoint? Any must-have sample packs? What do you use to isolate vocals for remixes?

How did you decide to go into private criminal defense? If you had to pick a different legal practice, what would it be?

Q:

We work out of Abelton. We have pretty much every plug in known to man and midi controllers. We use a prophet 6 on tour because it sounds better than a lot of the soft synths. I've been plugging it into a guitar or vox amp and record with a vocal mic. We ask artists for their vocals and they send it thinking we might do a remix sometimes lol

It was the only thing that hit me between the eyes -- and heart. My main skill is beating up bullies on the stand -- perhaps I would sue people for sexual harassment claims or other workplace abuses and civil rights issues. But criminal law is really my true love.

Q:

I was at your show in Miami! How does a show design as complicated as yours come together? Do shows have a director like movies do?

Have you ever turned down a case where a client was ready to hire? Are there any criminal cases you won't take?

Q:

Yes, we had a musical director and production director... we had so many awesome people working on our show (shout out to production club). Miami was a really scary moment. We spent like 6 months planning this tour and our album had come out 3 days before the tour started and weren't show how people would even react to our music to begin with. We had been toying with the band idea and weren't sure if it would work. We had a crazy concept for a moving stage. It became one of our favorites moments of the year though. I wouldn't say it was our best show of the tour in terms of our performance (the first show can never really be the best) because there was so much going on but after that show it was like holy shit this thing can work and it all clicked. There were months of planning and meetings and discussions and storylines. We created a show around an album that wasn't even created yet which was pretty insane.

Yes, if there just isn't a good fit between me and a client. I'm not the easiest person to deal with. Cough. And I won't do cases involving animal cruelty. Never.

Q:

What is your general strategy in drawing publicity prior to high profile trials? As an example, you're conducting this AMA where you call your client an alleged "drug lord", but I feel like that could be a negative descriptor, especially at this point in time. How do you balance self-promotion with the best interests of your client?

His winning is my payoff too. So all I want to do is win the case. All the great publicity will come after a win. Lawyers who are only concerned about getting their names in the paper don't last long. Winning is all that matters.

Q:

I totally agree, which is why I said that winning the case if the best form of self-promotion. However, you chose to conduct this public AMA with an inherent focus on the case. To reframe my question, why do you feel that it's a good thing for your client to draw attention to yourself and the case at this point in time?

I never said that you did. However, you posted an AMA to discuss both yourself and the case. Because of that, I'm curious as to how you feel that doing so is in the best interests of your client. I'm not trying to be hostile, but I'm just curious about your thought process here.

Sadly, I've felt more fear from unhinged prosecutors than I ever have from a client. During the Gotti trial, a federal prosecutor sent a cooperating witness into the bathroom to tape me as he gave me a pile of cash -- given to me to pay for expenses on the case -- and asked me not to report it. Like I didn't have enough to worry about? I gave the money back. That showed me how sick and twisted those with unchecked power in this country can be. I was at the urinal!

Mastro got out of prison recently; based on his new-found religious zeal, I am guessing he is washing the feet of lepers and figuring out ways to pay back all the people he robbed. (as if)

Many people resented me years ago and now for exposing Mastro's fraud simply because they themselves were profiting from the fraud. The baseball card hobby is filled with degenerates, especially the self-described leaders of the hobby. Numerous auction house owners have criminal records and this is the last refuge for them in order to make -- and steal -- a buck. Fraudsters, drug dealers, you name it, those are the leaders of the hobby.

Q:

What is your record as criminal defense attorney? (Ex. 1 for 1, 5 out of 7, etc.) Also are you able to speak with him directly or do you require the need of a translator?

I use a translator, though my Spanish is improving. Only took five years of it in school so it's coming slowly.

I win on average about half my trials.

Q:

I have a good number of friends who tried to be defense attorneys, but the pressure got to all of them. The cases were long and complex and one of my buddies cracked.

I bet you have dealt with a good number of big cases, so how/what do you do to manage all the stress and pressure? (nothing incriminating of course, unless you want too vent then go ahead, let it all out)

If you manage to get your client (any client) 'off the hook' for a crime that you know they committed; yes you did your job legally, but does it not go against the sentiment of justice?

I understand the guard is there to protect the falsely accused, but sometimes it's just obvious, it's just the bureaucratic system being abused. Examples being mob bosses avoiding punishment because they were never caught doing things they very clearly were involved doing etc.

In those cases, would you consider those lawyers sentimentally criminal? In that, although they haven't broken a law at a technical level (which is what it's all about). But have essentially assisted a criminal in avoiding punishment/justice?

If I win a case in which the client actually should have been found guilty, the blame is on the prosecutor, not me. Justice requires all defendants get a fair trial, that is all. I am not responsible for anything more than assisting the client to get that right.

Just because the prosecutor was not as good at his/her job as the defender, does not mean justice prevails. I can't offer up a solution but I certainly can't help but think that this is exactly the same (and nearly as arbitrary) as trial by combat in game of thrones.

Hmmmm.....I know there have been a few because on occasion I get pissed off that I am not hired for a case which to me seems perfect for my style. Off the top of my head I'm not sure I can think of any. When Bernie Madoff got arrested I was glad I didn't get that one.

Q:

How long do you think Anthony Weiner will be sentenced for? How long do you WANT him sentenced for? :D

El Chapo publicly put a bounty on President Trumps head and said some other threatening comments. Does his opinion of Trump still stand and do you think this will come out in the trial that he has threatened the POTUS?

Grades, LSAT scores, and perhaps showing an interest in justice -- go work in a pro bono clinic to help indigent defendants.

Q:

Have u ever felt that maybe because of ur client record the jury or judge is prejudiced(they are human so most probably they will be in someway)

How u deal with such situations like any tips you can share how to sway people or judge in a way so that they can see the defendant from ur perspective rather from his image in public especially in high profile criminal clients?

Happens all the time and it pisses me off but it is what it is. People are human as you said. But judges should be fair no matter their personal feelings -- or else find a new career. The judge in Gotti's case was the fairest judge I had ever been before. She was and is a rare one.

Q:

Why is this man even here? The way he was turned over to the US was shady AF. Why are US taxpayers being forced to care for this man? Does the US Govt have the power to return him?